Get ready for a new feature this fall on our Websites, Peralta TV and our YouTube channel: Board Spotlight, which will highlight each Peralta Community College District Board of Trustees meeting. The meetings begin again in fall. Here’s the Spotlight for the July 19 meeting.

Welcome to Board Spotlight, a brief recap of the biweekly meetings of the Board of Trustees of the Peralta Community College District.

With the end of the summer semester, The Board of Trustees held their final meeting before the recess. They received a report from Stephanie Casenza of the Peralta Colleges Foundation. The Board honored outgoing Peralta Federation of Teachers president Debra Weintraub for years of work. And they debated the structuring of the Retirement Board.

The Peralta Board of Trustees meet the second and fourth Tuesday of every month. Past meetings are available for viewing on the internet at peraltaccd.granicus.com

At it’s regular meeting last night, the Board of Trustees honored Debbie Weintraub, outgoing president of the Peralta Federation of Teachers, for her years of service. She is the first PFT president to be so honored.

Here’s the text of the resolution:

Honoring Debra Weintraub

WHEREAS, the Peralta Community College District Board of Trustees strives to honor those providing distinguished and dedicated service to the district, and wishes to recognize the exemplary service of Debra Weintraub; and

WHEREAS, Debra Weintraub has been a college instructor for over 27 years, including 5 years as President of the Peralta Federation of Teachers;

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED
that the Peralta Community College District Board of Trustees honors Debra Weintraub
for her many accomplishments and dedicated service to the district.

The Peralta Community College District takes the findings of the Civil Grand Jury report seriously, and is pleased that the Civil Grand Jury recognized the progress made over the past year, at the direction of the Peralta Board of Trustees, in putting the District back on solid financial ground.

The Board of Trustees has taken aggressive action to improve fiscal oversight at the Peralta Community College District. The Board has made numerous changes in personnel, policies and procedures to improve transparency and accountability, a fact recognized in the report.

While detailing the history of the District’s retirement bond investments in its report, the Civil Grand Jury found much improvement in the District’s financial oversight and complimented the Board of Trustees on taking decisive action to address past concerns.

The report noted the following specific corrective steps that the Board of Trustees has taken:

The Board of Trustees hired an “eminently qualified” expert consultant who developed a Corrective Action Matrix and oversaw a financial recovery plan. The report notes, “the [Civil] Grand Jury believes implementation of this plan – still in early stages – has the potential for fully addressing the issues raised…” (Page 141)

The Board of Trustees hired a new vice chancellor of finance and administration, a budget director and other key finance staff; the Civil Grand Jury learned, according to their report, “that significant improvements have been made under the direction of the new vice chancellor,” as noted on page 143.

The Civil Grand Jury notes on pages 151-152, that “important signs” indicate progress has been made, including the development of sound fiscal management, the hiring by the Board of Trustees of a “highly qualified” and “credible” interim chancellor, a new vice chancellor, also “highly qualified” and “credible,” and new outside financial advisors.

The Civil Grand Jury also notes on page 152 that “the Board [of Trustees] is making progress in improving its fiscal decision-making and creating appropriate financial policies.”

The Civil Grand Jury concludes “the financial management of the district is now in competent hands.” It further states, “The appointment of the present interim chancellor … is a positive development…showing promise to guide the district through the recovery plan.”

In addition, the Board of Trustees has already implemented fully or partially all of the recommendations made by the Civil Grand Jury. For example, a Retirement Board was created on April 13, 2011, and has met three times.

The recommendations made in the report mirror the Corrective Action Matrix that the Board of Trustees has already implemented. Effective change, in step with the recommendations made by the Civil Grand Jury, is already underway at the Peralta Community College District.

The Board of Trustees has implemented a long-term solution to funding the District’s commitment to employee benefits by budgeting and setting aside funds on an annual basis. This will fully fund the actuarial liability facing the District over a 25-year period.

At the Board of Trustees’ direction, the District has begun the process of restructuring bond-related principal and interest payments. This restructure will allow the District to make consistent and moderate payments, while minimizing any financial impact to the classroom.

The Board of Trustees has taken action to put outdated investment strategies behind it, and the District is now able to concentrate fully on the Peralta Colleges’ educational mission. As noted throughout the Civil Grand Jury report, the Peralta Community College District is well on its way, under the leadership of the Board of Trustees, to full financial recovery.

Oakland PEN prize-winning poets Andrena Zawinski (Laney) and Clifton Ross (Berkeley City College) will be honored by the Peralta Board of Trustees at their meeting Tuesday, May 24 at 7 pm. The Board meeting will be at the District Office, 333 East Eighth St., down the street from Laney College.Andrena Zawinski won for her collection of poetry, SOMETHING ABOUT from Blue Light Press in San Francisco. Clifton Ross won for his book of poetry, Translations from Silence: New and Selected Poems, Freedom Press. Andrena Zawinski and Clifton Ross are part-time English instructors.

PEN Oakland, dubbed “the blue collar PEN” by the New York Times, was founded in 1989 by Ishmael Reed, who came up with the idea, and co-founders Floyd Salas,Reginald Lockett and Claire Ortalda, in order to “promote works of excellence by writers of all cultural and racial backgrounds and to educate both the public and the media as to the nature of multi-cultural work.” PEN Oakland affiliated with International PEN in 1990 and soon launched the PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Awards for multicultural U.S. literature.

OAKLAND, Calif., April 7, 2011 – Peralta Community College District Trustee Abel Guillén was recently chosen as an honorary member of the Golden Key International Honour Society (GKIHS). A Trustee since 2006 and immediate past president of the Board of Trustees, Guillén has provided valuable leadership to the four East Bay colleges, Berkeley City College, College of Alameda, and Laney and Merritt Colleges in Oakland.

“Abel Guillén was chosen because of his strong commitment to higher education and his efforts to expand educational access and opportunities to many students throughout our community and across California,” said Neelam Kapadia, vice president of GKIHS, California State University-East Bay. “He has demonstrated invaluable leadership through his efforts to reform Peralta – skills that embody the goals and values we aspire to instill in our students,” Kapadia said.

“It is truly an honor to receive this recognition, particularly because it comes from the students,” said Guillén. “It will be their ideas, their innovation and their resiliency that leads our community – and the nation – into the future.”

Reelected to the Board of Trustees last fall, Guillén plans to continue strengthening Peralta Colleges’ partnerships with California State Colleges and the University of California. More than 415 students from the Peralta Colleges transfer to the state universities annually, with another 330 students going to UC campuses each year.

Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed state budget cuts to community colleges, state universities and the UC system released in the beginning of January, have sent shock waves through the state’s higher education community. Frequent state budget updates and their potential effects on community colleges are regularly available. They are also discussed at meetings of PCCD’s Board of Trustees, by the District’s Budget and Finance Committee, faculty and classified senates, and in meetings of district collective bargaining units. Announcements with meeting dates and times are sent to Peralta employees. Here are several links to frequently updated information sources to help you better understand California’s budget situation.

PeraltaTV is proud to present the second episode of our new talk show, Peralta Matters. This episode focuses on Student Services, and we are joined by Student Trustee Jurena Storm, College of Alameda EOPS Counselor Francine West and Berkeley City College President Betty Inclan. Full episodes air Tuesday evenings at 6:30 pm and Fridays at 12:30 pm.

OAKLAND, Calif., December 10, 2010 – The Peralta Community College District’s Board of Trustees, at its annual organizational meeting held on December 7, 2010, elected a new slate of officers for 2011. Three trustees, reelected in November, were also sworn-in to serve for the next four years.

Dr. William “Bill” Riley, who represents Area 5, was elected president and Cy Gulassa, representing Area 6, was elected vice president of the nine-member board.

Abel J. Guillén, who represents Area 7, was sworn-in by the Honorable Thelton E. Henderson, Senior Judge, United States District Court, Northern District of California. Dr. William “Bill” Riley and Linda Handy were sworn-in by the Honorable Gordon S. Baranco, Judge, Superior Court of California, County of Alameda.

“I am both pleased and honored to serve as president of the Board during this critical time in Peralta’s history,” Riley said. “I look forward to working closely with our constituent groups to help guide our colleges through some of the difficult decisions the Board will have to make in the future. In making these decisions and working together with students, faculty, staff and the community, the Board and I are committed to an open, shared governance process, accountability and full transparency,” Riley Added.

Riley was first elected to the Board of Trustees in 1998 and represents an area that includes Oakland’s Rockridge District and the City of Piedmont. He has served as President of the Board twice and also as Vice President. He is a Merritt College alumnus and has served in public education over 30 years, including the Oakland, East Palo Alto/Ravenswood and San Ramon School Districts. He earned an Ed.D., in Educational Policy and a B.A. in Sociology and Physical Education from the University of San Francisco and an M.A. in Educational Administration from San Francisco State University.

A graduate of UC Berkeley with a M.A. in English, Cy Gulassa has taught at institutions such as Frostburg State University in Maryland and the Philadelphia College of Art, as well as teaching English at De Anza College for 30 years. He served as president of the Foothil-De Anza District Faculty Association for fifteen years and founded the Bay Faculty Association. He lectures on community college reform and governance issues and has published over 150 articles. In 1994, he was named Faculty Member of the Year and was honored by State Assembly and Senate resolutions and a commendation from President Clinton.

Continuing to serve on the board are Bill Withrow, who represents Area 1, Marcie Hodge, Area 2, Linda Handy, Area 3, Nicky González Yuen, Area 4, and Abel Guillén, who represents Area 7. Student trustees are Jurena Storm and Darnice Davis.